The Alimond Show
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Luis Gonzalez & Sagiv Poplinger - Revolutionizing Tech with Sustainable Refurbished Electronics
What if you could access the latest technology without breaking the bank or harming the environment? Luis Gonzalez & Sagiv Poplinger from BuySPRY take us behind the scenes of the refurbished electronics industry, revealing how their business model makes cutting-edge tech both affordable and sustainable. Sparked by Sagiv's early ventures with the first iPhone, BuySPRY has grown into a company that prioritizes quality and customer satisfaction. Throughout this episode, we uncover the meticulous processes involved in refurbishing devices and learn how BuySPRY uses customer feedback to ensure high standards. We also delve into the broader environmental benefits of opting for refurbished electronics, from curbing electronic waste to promoting a greener future.
Curious about the future of refurbished tech? Join us as we explore the increasing allure of these devices in today's fast-paced digital world. As government regulations push for more eco-friendly practices, and consumers become more conscious of their tech choices, refurbished electronics are emerging as a smart and sustainable option. Luis and Sagiv share their personal stories, shedding light on how their journey in e-commerce and technology has influenced their perspective on sustainability. The episode wraps up with a heartfelt discussion on the power of community, hard work, and the immigrant experience in achieving success, urging listeners to be mindful consumers and active contributors to a better world. Don't miss this inspiring conversation that promises to change how you think about your tech purchases.
Hi, I'm Luis Gonzalez. I'm originally from Venezuela. I am the VP of Operations of VicePri.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Sagib Poplinger. I'm Israeli. I am the CEO of VicePri. How do we serve our customers? We, in a nutshell, give our customers an opportunity to get the latest tech in the best prices that are out there, so they have the ability to use all the technologies available over there in prices that fits any budget.
Speaker 2:And how did this idea become about? How did BuySprite? Is it BuySprite, yeah?
Speaker 3:How was it born? So I was a kid. I came to this country when I was about 23, 24 years old. The first iPhone came out and I was always a person of selling items and different things. Like at school I would sell them like DVDs, and in the army I would sell shirts and in the like. Everywhere that I did, it's always selling something.
Speaker 2:You're like a hustler at a young age, I guess, so I don't have it in my family, so I didn't.
Speaker 3:it's not like I've inherited maybe in the DNA because my grandmother used to have like all this kind of entrepreneurship ideas. So the first iPhone came out and it was cool and nobody had it other than AT&T and of course, like you know, it was only sold in the US. So I unlocked it and put it on eBay like, I guess, where everybody started in the beginning and it sold. It sold for like $150 profit and I said, hmm, so I bought two and it became five and then it became a little bit more and I remember myself like going up to every Black Friday like with either a small car or even a U-Haul was one point, like just to get all the sales over there and put on ebay and sell it out. So that's how it started, how it became into the refurbished.
Speaker 3:What we do today is really like about about eight or nine years ago, where it became very difficult to sell brand new items against like the big retailers, like these best buys and those retailers that are not existing anymore. So you had to pivot, you had to improvise and then it became like you know, kind of a thing to sell an item that is not a brand new item, it's a used items and it's refurbished item and for less than what it sells in the store. So it kind of gave this idea and this notion of the same item that looks good and looks new and for less the price.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean kind of a used car or lots of other things that I always prefer to buy secondhand myself yeah. Yeah, so tell me a little bit about what you guys are doing today. So you guys are buying electronics refurbishing. How does the system work?
Speaker 1:So our vision for our organization is our main focus is with the refurbished electronics. So we and we want to sell them online because that's the. We believe that that is the future of the retail, so we are trying to stay away from the conventional retail. So we have different sources where we buy this refurbished. We have different sources where we get our product in bulk and we refurbish them. There is specific processes for each device and then we sell them through marketplaces like Amazon, ebay, walmart, best Buy, I mean you name it you will find us there.
Speaker 2:And are you guys refurbishing these items yourselves and if so, how did you learn how to do that, or do you have a tech person that does that?
Speaker 1:There is a lot of trial and error, and we are not the only company that is doing this. We are pretty much the best one, and it's a lot because of our team. We have a team that is very that. They have an innovative mindset and we are always researching how we can make the product better of our main goals is not to yes, we want to have the best price, but we don't want to compromise quality. So we hear a lot of the feedback from the customer when we take it very, very seriously. When the customer provides a feedback through the marketplace saying, hey, you know, I found this on the screen, or the battery has this, or the speaker has this other issue, we immediately take that feedback to the different departments and we come up with a solution that can fix the problem. Sometimes it's something that we. Most of the time it's something that we can actually fix. Sometimes it's a refurbished device.
Speaker 1:It's like you just mentioned the car when you buy a car, it's most likely that car will have an issue along the way, it's the same thing. It's the same with refurbished electronics, but yes, we have different departments because it's something. Yes, yeah, um, it's the same with the reformation electronics. Okay, uh, but yes, we have different departments. We have, uh, that take care of different parts of the processes so you've got it pretty streamlined.
Speaker 2:Yes and um, I know you guys are passionate about the effect that this has on the environment.
Speaker 3:Talk to me about that a little bit so global warming in in general, is being a concept that is being, like you know, more into the sense of of society today, um, and but in general, for people like, if you're trying to see what you can contribute out of yourself, you can do recycling on your home, with the trash, of course, um, you can maybe buy, like you know, an electric vehicle, do something, but there is not a lot of scope where you, with all your daily life and everything that you do, that you can actually make so much contribution.
Speaker 3:And here what we're trying to bring in is the concept and the fact that, hey, yes, there are those shiny new devices, but you don't really need this kind of most advanced product. You can actually have a capable device that, instead of going right now and going into in the trash or into any kind of other places that will like, contribute to pollution, you can actually save this device and give it more life for a couple more years. And then, in this kind of method, you're not going right now, you're on your own, you're contributing into the like you know the whole concept of global warming, because this is not a battery that is not going to go into the recycle these materials right now that they're not going to be trashed or anywhere, and and, and god knows how long it will take them, like you know, to compensate and and go out. So you're actually contributing into this whole concept of the environment by giving those devices new life.
Speaker 2:Right for sure.
Speaker 1:I think this concept of refurbished electronics and this used to be called secondhand and now it's evolving to refurbished or renewed as part of an educational campaign for big retailers like Amazon or companies like ours, because this is a new concept for the consumer- that with a refurbished device, you are not only benefiting from what Sagif just mentioned. You are not only benefiting from what Sagif just mentioned, but also it also has a positive environmental impact that in the end is going to help everyone.
Speaker 1:So it will take some years to actually take seriously the refurbishment of the devices. Like you see, big clothing retailers. Now they are recycling, and they are motivating their customers to actually bring clothes to the store and get a discount. And then explain how they are recycling the cotton and all and the fabric. I think that we're going to get there.
Speaker 2:I feel like we've been in it. You know it's like this perfect timing. You know that we are. When was the first iPhone? 15 years ago. Yeah, let's math on that. How many years we're far enough along in this process that people are collecting. I mean, I can speak for myself. We have a basket of old phones, old iPads, old computers. I'm too scared to throw them in the trash. Like, what advice do you have for people like us that I'm like I don't know what to do these old devices? I don't even know if they'll charge for me to wipe them, to even take them to somewhere, like you guys?
Speaker 3:So every County has a recycling like facility that they can recycle devices in there.
Speaker 3:I I mean, today it's, it's still very fresh, but in the future you will have, like you know, you will go into a place. It doesn't even need to be a store, it can be like a machine that you go and you put your devices and it gives you hey, you have some value for it. And here is like the value, and not only that you're going right now and putting something that is just taking dust in your house, you're also getting, like you know, some kind of compensation for it. Your house, you're also getting, like you know some kind of compensation for it.
Speaker 3:But today it's really there is a lot of recycling stations and places to go and put these devices in there or you know you can find a way to sell them. You have the patience and the time.
Speaker 2:You have the patience and the time, Tell me about what you were just talking about. What do you think the future holds for electronics? You said that future. Maybe it might be more streamlined that we can take devices somewhere and kind of figure out value for them. Where do you guys see electronics? And I hear Apple's coming out with a new AI phone. How do you guys feel about that?
Speaker 1:In a world where technology is becoming a big part of our lives and how the technology is evolving, I think more and more and more, the refurbished electronics are the ones that are going to be the go-to option for the majority of the consumers. One of the reasons why is because of the affordability you can have a device that is fully functional at a lower price right and it maybe cosmetically is not brand new, but it's still.
Speaker 1:You know, right now you put a case, a screen protector, and it looks like brand new and you can still take phone calls and still well how the phones are evolving. The majority of the upgrades come with the capacity of the phone, like how much memory it has or an improved camera, but in the end, the basics you can do it with an old device and a newer device, right you can do it with an old device and a newer device, and I believe that when we are talking about how fast technology is evolving, it's almost like the fast fashion industry, fast fashion industry.
Speaker 1:They are every three months they have a new collection and that motivates the consumer to actually go and buy things that they don't need. So right every time that a new model comes out. Do you really need that model or with what you have is enough? I have right now an iPhone 13 and this year the iPhone 16, most likely, will be released. I'm fine with mine, and actually mine is also refurbished.
Speaker 2:And it works just fine, it does what I need.
Speaker 1:I think people get too caught up in getting the newest thing, I've got an iPhone.
Speaker 2:Caught up in getting the newest thing, I've got an iPhone 12, and I've just been procrastinating because I'm like it depends also what kind of segment of the society there is.
Speaker 3:There's the elders, there's the kids.
Speaker 3:They don't really need any kind of the highest technology to do what they consume. Also, if we look on the future, just like you said, there is also a lot of government compliance and different changes that are happening throughout. And the companies the big like companies like Apple, like Samsung they also have a lot of pressure to be more environmental friendly, so they are actually forced to share, you know, how to repair devices. They're actually forced to show how to do different things, so allowing these devices that they have more life and more, like you know this, more streamlined between what they're producing to how it's actually going to go there and be for the next, like 10 years, next, like 10 years, um, so it's, it's. I think it's a very positive thing that the government, like you know, is putting over here regulation that can actually help the whole global warming and different concept of it and, at the end of the day, there is there is, like um, a reach of how much technology can actually go I've been thinking about that a lot lately.
Speaker 3:And you know, innovation since the first iPhone, for example, that came out with the iPhone, for example, hasn't gone so far. Like you know, down the road, it's still a screen with a camera. So it will become a little bit more difficult for the companies to bring something new out there and change. And that's why it gives those secondhand, like those refurbished devices, more value to the customer. Because, at the end, of the day, it's a device. That's the same, and you brought the car. The car is a great idea. It's four wheels that drive.
Speaker 3:It drives good and it can drive for 20 years. It's fine so yeah maybe it's not as fancy or maybe, like you know, you will need to change oil a little bit here and there but it's the value for what you're getting at the end yeah, and sometimes it's almost.
Speaker 2:I feel like things are getting too fancy, like with appliances and stuff. I'm like I don't want a whole computer in my refrigerator, I just want a refrigerator that keeps my food cold.
Speaker 1:That is a good point actually, because when the new iphone was released, who were the main target for those were like the youngest generation, that they wanted the new and improved phone, but maybe the more conservative older generations. They were fine with their conventional mobile phones. I think that when we get, probably when we get the new cellular phone I don't want to call it iPhone, but like when we get- the need we don't know which company is going to come and break the world with a new device.
Speaker 1:It's going to take time for the whole world to embrace the idea of, and there are some companies that have tried to do something very, very different than the iPhone and they still have failed because people are more used to the concept of the iPhone. So even if we get the biggest new thing it's gonna take time for people to get accustomed to that idea but also the refurbished device, the more conventional device is the one that is going to be the go-to product.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and I heard a little bit of backstory about how you started this. How did you guys start working together, though?
Speaker 3:Oh, wow that story.
Speaker 1:So I, as I said before, I'm from Venezuela. I moved to Spain in 2006 because I was going to get a master's degree in e-commerce. E-commerce was something that back then was like. It seemed like a big dream, like companies were just getting to sell online, and to me, I was fascinated with the idea of e-commerce. I got my master's degree on e-commerce. I worked developing e-commerce marketing plans and sales plans for two big companies in Spain and then, in 2014, I moved to the US and I started working something totally different. That was also my passion, which is fashion. So I stayed there for a little while, but I always wanted to go back to e-commerce because I really liked the part of the innovation then COVID came and I wanted to go back.
Speaker 1:That made me think. You know, we all had that COVID realization moment and mine was like I want to go back to e-commerce and I found out that just 10 minutes from my house there was this company that was not only working on e-commerce but on something that to me was very interesting, which was refurbishing devices, and I went to the interview. I have to say that it was very interesting that I was in pain and it turned out that I had appendicitis.
Speaker 2:Oh, during your interview, during my interview, oh my word, and actually they didn't know anything. So you thought you were nervous, but you were actually having appendicitis.
Speaker 1:And I signed my offer letter while I was in the hospital.
Speaker 2:Oh, my word, I recovered from that. Well, you clearly impressed him.
Speaker 1:But I think that what you know, you can find another job, but what makes you stay there? Right, and I think Sagif and I come with the same mindset.
Speaker 1:We do things very differently, but we have the same mindset of innovation. Same mindset of innovation. We are very intrigued of how to improve, how to do something different than the others, but especially how to be the best at it, and we both have that same drive. Sometimes that makes us collide, because we both have the next great idea of how to do things. Yes, but we work very well together and we have the same vision and that's important, and we are both immigrants, so we understand each other.
Speaker 1:We kind of come with the same background as well of being self-made. We don't come from money, we have the same entrepreneurial spirit, Like we can make things happen, and I think that that is a skill set that as an immigrant you always get. I'm three times immigrant I lived in well, I can say four times. I lived in Spain, in the Netherlands, in the US and in Canada. So Canada I was just studying English, learning English. But, the other three. I was really there.
Speaker 2:And that's scary.
Speaker 1:To go to a new country you have to start and that's where the entrepreneurial spirit and like, hey, you're going to make it, You're going to. It doesn't matter that you, because you leave behind a lot of things and sometimes that is your comfort zone and you have to build again something and we apply that to our company. It's scary because in our industry, we have to always be innovative.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we have challenges that come from the manufacturers, that we crack something how to test a device or how to improve a device and then the manufacturer comes and says ah, you're not going to do that anymore, so you have to.
Speaker 2:Okay, this didn't work. This time we're going to yeah.
Speaker 1:And the solution cannot be well, I'm going to stop selling this model or I'm going to stop selling this brand. No, it has to be like okay, how can I?
Speaker 2:How can we fix this?
Speaker 1:Sometimes it comes from the marketplace. The marketplace, you know, have a new policy and makes it more difficult. Sometimes it's the competition, sometimes it's the currency, it's the stock market. It's always something we are not in a comfort zone, ever when we are, we are always in a alert mode.
Speaker 2:We're too comfortable right now.
Speaker 3:That's what makes companies successful it is If you stay behind and you go like we're too comfortable right now it is if you stay behind and you don't innovate and you don't think five steps ahead yeah, and you'll still be using a flip phone, even with banks, even with every industry today it's so quick to change. You always have to adapt.
Speaker 2:It does well, as we wrap up here, are there any words of advice you guys would like to leave us with, or maybe a mantra that you run your business by a? Mantra that you go and start or even to say a mantra, maybe that you live your life by both being immigrants to the country, maybe what that has meant to you so working hard is not just like a thought or a feeling.
Speaker 3:It actually has to be an action, and what I admire and appreciate about this country is the fact that there is an opportunity to the people that are willing to work for it, and and I appreciate the opportunity that I had over here to come to this country, learn its history and go through everything and be part of an ability not only to show that it's possible, but also to give this opportunity to other people around to have this kind of possibility, and for themselves and for their family. I'm very proud of what we've created, and it was never a me, it's an us and it's the whole team and everybody around that we have. And if I'm giving something out there, it's to always listen and to always understand that you're as good as the people around you.
Speaker 3:And it's never a person of your own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's one of my favorite expressions. You're only as good as the people you surround yourself by.
Speaker 1:I would say that we are contributing to a better world. Contributing to a better world it seems like a very I'm gonna stop that over.
Speaker 2:It's okay. Yeah, you're good Contributing to better worlds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're contributing to a better world and I think that by that I mean we are putting, we're giving a second chance to devices, and sometimes the solution is not on buying new devices. You said that you had a basket full of old devices. Sometimes it's donating them or handing them down to your kids or to your grandparents or someone to your kids or to your grandparents or someone. I think that we need to be more conscious on how we are consuming in general.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. And be wiseful consumers, right? Well, thank you both for being here today and sharing your story with us. I loved hearing it and it was inspirational to me, and I know it will be to our listeners as well. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you.